Enhancing Psychiatry Residents' Knowledge and Comfort With Clozapine Prescribing Through Educational Interventions

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Medical Education
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Clozapine is highly effective for treatment-resistant schizophrenia but underutilized due to safety concerns.
• The discontinuation of the Clozapine Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program shifted monitoring responsibility to clinicians.
• Psychiatry residents may require enhanced training for safe clozapine management post-REMS.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a structured educational intervention on psychiatry residents' knowledge of clozapine.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of targeted education in improving clozapine prescribing and management skills.

Main Methods:

• A single-institution quality improvement study with a pre-post design.
• Psychiatry residents (PGY-1 to PGY-4) attended a one-hour educational session on clozapine.
• Knowledge assessment scores were compared before and after the intervention using a paired t-test.

Main Results:

• Mean knowledge scores increased significantly from 69.4% to 82.8% (p < 0.05).
• The intervention led to a 13.4 percentage point increase in knowledge.

Conclusions:

• A brief educational intervention effectively improved residents' knowledge of clozapine.
• Targeted education can address barriers to clozapine use, especially after REMS discontinuation.
• Integrating clozapine training into residency curricula can enhance safe and appropriate clinical practice.